Looks Like Karen Lewis May Have Defeated Rahm After All

As I watched jubilant teachers, wearing union red, from the Acero charter school network celebrate the new contract they’d won after a four-day strike, I had a flashback to the way things used to be. Wait, wait, as long as I’m reminiscing about changes from the bad old days, remember how recently elected Mayor Rahm, marching into town like Napoleon, took Karen Lewis out for dinner and told her how it’s gonna be with the schools?...

October 15, 2022 · 1 min · 193 words · James Scott

Nasty Brutish Short Showcases Work From The Puppeteers Of Color Incubator

You could call south side native Allyson Gonzalez a puppeteer, but “alchemist” is not wholly inaccurate. How else to describe an artist who can turn used Styrofoam cups and shredded loofahs into tiny ballerinas? “I try not to buy anything,” Gonzalez says of the materials she transforms into idiosyncratic creatures on grand adventures. “Once I copied an Alexander McQueen gown. It was mostly paper towels and wire. I loved that dress....

October 15, 2022 · 1 min · 132 words · Linda Adkins

On The New Expect The Best Dream Pop Band Widowspeak Return To A Familiar Sound

Widowspeak’s Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas decamped from Brooklyn to the Catskills to make their 2015 album All Yours, which marked a shift in the duo’s sound. While Hamilton’s beautifully narcotic singing continued to reflect the influence of Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, the poppy, crystal-­clear arrangements changed the complexion of the music in a big way—and with satisfying results. Turns out the change was temporary, though. After touring for the record, Hamilton returned to Tacoma, Washington, where she grew up; she was apparently in a state of flux, anxious about going home and what the future held....

October 15, 2022 · 1 min · 210 words · Melanie Lee

Scandal Returns With The Perfect Amount Of Wine And Melodrama

ABC Olivia Pope is most forlorn when there’s no red wine in sight. Scandal flew below my radar for its first three seasons. When the show’s popularity really hit, I was all caught up in Breaking Bad and Mad Men and turned up my nose at any network drama like some pretentious jerk. To quiet the pleas of a fellow television lover, I finally gave it a chance and I was hooked....

October 15, 2022 · 1 min · 209 words · Samantha Barros

The Ironies And Contradictions Of The New York Times Event On Chicago Gun Violence

Ludwig offered a number of possible explanations, rejecting them one by one. It’s not that winters have been warmer, or that there’s been a sudden decrease in spending on social services, Ludwig explained. Indiana hasn’t gotten any closer to Chicago, so there’s no reason to suspect a sudden increase in the flow of illegal guns to the city. A decline in arrests? No, because while drug-related arrests have fallen, gun-related arrests haven’t....

October 15, 2022 · 2 min · 343 words · Sonia Courtney

Tracy Letts And Louis C K Peas In A Pod

My theory? The people who’ve known Tracy Letts longest know him the least. I mean those of us who remember the enfant-terrible days of Killer Joe and Bug, the former a rude jest about a murder-for-hire scheme gone very wrong, the latter a skin crawler about codependency gone very, very, very wrong. Together with his Oklahoma roots, the two plays conveyed an impression of Letts as a postpunk cowboy avant-gardist a la Sam Shepard—the sort you can picture getting into a bar fight over somethin’ bad somebody said about Rimbaud....

October 15, 2022 · 2 min · 254 words · Luis Hogan

When Contempt Breeds Ignorance The Iran Deal Edition

So much for vigorous public debate of a weighty issue! No one can say the proposed nuclear agreement hashed out between Iran, the U.S., and other nations escaped notice at home. Republicans insist the Iranians bamboozled us, a nuclear attack on Israel will follow in short order, the whole Middle East could wind up in ashes, and all President Obama cares about is his legacy as a peacemaker. Democrats say no deal at all would be a lot worse than this one....

October 15, 2022 · 2 min · 294 words · Cindy Steib

Aura Curiatlas Physical Theatre S A Life With No Limits Ranges From Human Caregivers To Fundamental Particles

It’s hard enough coming up with a dance, let alone one about the discoveries of wheelchair-bound astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. Hawking, of course, was diagnosed with ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, shortly after his 21st birthday. As his health has deteriorated over the last 50 years, so has his mobility. He now requires a staff of nearly 40 people to care for him; at least four remain by his side at all hours of the day....

October 14, 2022 · 2 min · 231 words · George Smith

Best Shows To See Carter Tutti Jay Z Jack Of Heart Anthony Pateras

Mr. Z We survived the polar vortex! For a minute there I didn’t think we were going to. The temps are back in the double digits today, and this weekend they’ll be pushing 40—that’s going to feel like paradise compared to the beginning of this week. The warm-up comes just in time for another busy weekend of live music. Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti, two members of the pioneering industrial group Throbbing Gristle, have been playing as a duo since their band’s first demise in 1981....

October 14, 2022 · 2 min · 238 words · Noah Rosario

Chilean Director Patricio Guzman Ponders The Mysteries Of The Deep In The Pearl Button

Patricio Guzman earned his place in cinematic history with The Battle of Chile (1975-’79), a stunning journalistic trilogy about the 1973 military coup that replaced Chile’s democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, with the dictator Augusto Pinochet. Since then Guzman has returned to the coup years with Chile, Obstinate Memory (1997), The Pinochet Case (2001), and Salvador Allende (2004), but in 2010 he took a break from politics and indulged a lifelong love of astronomy to make a series of shorts about the heavens....

October 14, 2022 · 2 min · 240 words · Linda Dixon

Rising Star Reveals A Young Barack Obama Who S All Too Human

As President Donald Trump came before the White House press corps last week to swear up and down that he hadn’t colluded with the Russians to sway the U.S. presidential election, I finished plowing through Rising Star, David Garrow’s massive new biography of Barack Obama. I have a different perspective. Yes, I know the book could have used a tighter edit, and chunks of it—especially the final chapter about the Obama White House years—could have been left out altogether....

October 14, 2022 · 1 min · 133 words · Michael Burger

The Auditorium Theatre S Made In Chicago Series Highlights Some Of The City S Best Dance Companies And Glenn Kotche Of Wilco

In 2017, Chicago got a taste of Danielle Agami’s choreography when Nick Pupillo, artistic director of Visceral Dance Chicago, commissioned Pick a Chair in 2017 to music by composer and Wilco percussionist Glenn Kotche. This Friday, November 16, Agami returns with her own company, Ate9, to present Calling Glenn, her first collaboration with Kotche, on a shared bill with Visceral and Chicago stalwart Deeply Rooted Dance Theater as part of the Auditorium Theatre’s “Made in Chicago” 312 series....

October 14, 2022 · 2 min · 251 words · Forrest Modafferi

Three Dishes With Nothing In Common Except Each Other At The Bryn Mawr Breakfast Club

The occasion of esteemed former pastry chef Sarah Jordan taking over Logan Square’s Johnny’s Grill prompted some justifiable sarcasm about whether a place serving $9 pancakes and cheeseburgers is a legitimate replacement for a greasy spoon that served its “community” by serving breakfast for under $4. We’ll see about that. For now it’s worth pointing out that traditional upscaling of the classic greasy spoon has been in effect for quite some time; cases in point include ersatz versions like Dove’s, Little Goat, and even Au Cheval, but also at even more low-budget, low-profile neighborhood spots like Danny’s Egghead Diner, where you can get a $3 cup of soup along with more specialized stuff like a $12 double turkey burger with provolone and cranberry jam....

October 14, 2022 · 1 min · 168 words · Dixie Hodges

Veteran Tuareg Band Tinariwen Create A Lattice Of Bluesy Guitar Licks On The New Elwan

Over their previous few albums, veteran Tuareg band Tinariwen have included contributions from a revolving cast of rock musicians, and their strong new Elwan (Anti) follows suit. Guitarists Kurt Vile and Matt Sweeney (Chavez), who jam on a handful of tracks, deserve praise mainly for not getting in the way, which is more than I can say for the lugubrious moan that singer Mark Lanegan drops on “Nànnuflày.” Apart from the marketing opportunities the guests provide, I’m not sure why Tinariwen bother—they sure don’t need any extra talent....

October 14, 2022 · 2 min · 232 words · Joseph Best

All About Unicorns

QI am a single woman, 31, in LA, and on OkCupid. (We all are.) I’ve gotten a number of unicorn requests. (Maybe because I mention being a subscriber to the Savage Lovecast magnum version in my profile?) I’ve never responded—until the other day. One unicorn request stood out. I wrote back. They seem like cool, smart, interesting people (a 40-year-old liberal married couple). Their profile is funny, and they’re quite attractive!...

October 13, 2022 · 2 min · 267 words · Amy Breckenridge

An Expression Of Gratitude For Political And Local Events Over The Last Year

For most of the year I rant and rail about the really bad ideas and behavior of our elected officials—and, trust me, I’ll get to Mayor Rahm’s $800 million or so Lincoln Yard TIF handout in a subsequent column real soon. So, good job, Illinois voters. And, J.B., if you come through on your promises regarding legal reefer, progressive taxes, an elected school board in Chicago, and more money for education—you can buy as many horse farms in Florida as you want....

October 13, 2022 · 2 min · 271 words · Penny Battiste

Chirp Radio Dj Joy Merten On Japanese Noise From 1984

Philip Montoro, Reader music editor Big Dumb Skulls This affectionately snarky blog, run by two servants of the fictional Council of the Elders of the Skull who call themselves Friar Wagner and Friar Johnsen, began with a question: “How many metal bands have taken great care to write and record their music, only to slap a big dumb skull on the album cover?” Beginning on January 1, 2013, the friars reviewed 666 releases (and skulls) before the Council granted them a “period of rest” last week....

October 13, 2022 · 2 min · 311 words · Avis Capps

Fifteen Holiday Shows To See Now

A Beer Carol You’ve got to hand it to Steve Mosqueda and Sean Benjamin. They’ve stayed true to their vision even at the risk of their livers. Their Drinking & Writing Theater is all about the creativity that flows from inebriation, and their shows are paeans to the alcoholic beverage. Especially beer. Even hallowed yuletide traditions get bent (as it were) to their intentions. First staged in 2011, A Beer Carol recasts Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol as the inspirational tale of Bud Miller, ruthless CEO of the Milweiser Beer Company, whose piss-purveying ways are changed by visits from the spirits of beer’s key ingredients: water, grain, hops, and yeast....

October 13, 2022 · 3 min · 517 words · Tabitha Parker

Gaudi Cafe The Art Of Making A Neighborhood Place

Michael Gebert I went into Gaudi Cafe, a Ukrainian Village restaurant I’d been to with my family a few times, to check on the progress of a new restaurant from the same owners. Instead it looked like this one was closing. Art had come off the colorful walls. The counter was stacked with boxes. “This is our last day,” said co-owner Verònica Pineau. Gaudi Cafe Verònica and Betty. Then called Gaudi Coffee and Grill, it was the kind of polyglot restaurant with some of everything—Mexican food, burgers, salads, soups, wraps, pastas, and tapas at night—which often promises mediocrity....

October 13, 2022 · 2 min · 394 words · Gwendolyn Tyree

He S Got Cheatin On His Mind

Q: I’m a gay man who is ready to start cheating on my boyfriend. We’ve had a wonderful 3.5-year-long relationship full of respect, affection, support, and fun. I love everything about our relationship, and our sex life was great . . . until he moved in eight months into the relationship. At that point, he lost all interest. I’ve tried everything: asking what I can do differently, being more aggressive, being more passive, suggesting couples therapy, getting angry, crying, and breaking up twice....

October 13, 2022 · 3 min · 465 words · Robert Birch